Amount of Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Survival
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Amount of Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Survival

ByHolly Zink

Many clinical researchers have asked the question: “Does the amount of asbestos exposure affect prognosis?” But every researcher comes to a slightly different conclusion. Many have looked at this question. But few can agree on the answer. Recently there were two articles in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology that proposed two opposite endings on this topic. One said that “the amount of asbestos in the lungs may directly correlate with shorter survival in patients with mesothelioma.” And the other said, “the amount of asbestos in the lungs does not influence survival.” A new article in the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer compares notes from all the different studies. Dr. Michele Carbone from the University of Hawaii Cancer…

Asbestos Exposure During Childhood Can Lead to Mesothelioma
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Asbestos Exposure During Childhood Can Lead to Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

Scientists are looking at mesothelioma risk in women exposed to asbestos. Asbestos exposure in women varies. But, environmental and domestic asbestos exposures are common. Oncologists are now asking about childhood environmental and domestic asbestos exposures. A study from the International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health tells more. Forms of Asbestos Exposure: Environmental and Domestic All forms of asbestos are capable of causing cancer in humans. Most asbestos research focuses on malignant mesothelioma. This is aggressive cancer associated with exposure to asbestos. Occupational asbestos exposure is the most common exposure. Workers are exposed to asbestos on the job site or through work-related tasks. Women more often have domestic asbestos exposure. This comes from living with and handling the clothing…

Asbestos Exposure in Construction Workers Leads to Mesothelioma
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Asbestos Exposure in Construction Workers Leads to Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

Asbestos exposure in construction workers remains a particular concern. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare cancer with a global incidence. Italy is among the countries with the highest values of mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is associated with exposures to asbestos fibers and other asbestiform fibers. Asbestos exposure in construction workers remains a particular concern. A new study describes the characteristics of Italian malignant mesothelioma cases among construction workers. Scientists analyzed 31,572 cases with definite asbestos exposure in the period from 1993 to 2018. Connecting Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma in Construction Workers The relation between asbestos use and the historical trend of mesothelioma is clear. Italian scientists assessed asbestos exposure in 78.2% of the mesothelioma cases. This accounts for 24,864 of the patients studied….

Italian Case Illustrates Unusual Way of Tracking Asbestos Exposure
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Italian Case Illustrates Unusual Way of Tracking Asbestos Exposure

ByAlex Strauss

After a mysterious cluster of mesothelioma cases cropped up among Italian textile workers, researchers found an unusual way of tracking asbestos exposure. Asbestos is the main cause of malignant mesothelioma. Many mesothelioma patients came in contact with asbestos at work. But it is not always clear how it happened.   Mesothelioma legal cases often hinge on tracking asbestos exposure at a negligent company. But in the case of the Italian textile workers, the exposure was not obvious. The workers produced sewing threads. They did not work directly with asbestos. It was not until an abatement company started removing asbestos from the plant, that researchers got a clearer picture of why the workers got sick.  The Challenge of Tracking Asbestos Exposure Asbestos…

Risk for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Keeps Rising Decades After Exposure
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Risk for Peritoneal Mesothelioma Keeps Rising Decades After Exposure

ByAlex Strauss

Pleural mesothelioma risk may level off over several decades, but the risk for peritoneal mesothelioma never goes down. That is the conclusion of researchers at Italy’s University of Eastern Piedmont. It is based on data from more than 50,000 asbestos-exposed Italian workers.   More than 40 years after asbestos exposure, the workers’ risk for peritoneal mesothelioma continued to rise. Calculating Mesothelioma Rates Over Time Asbestos is the primary cause of all types of malignant mesothelioma. Even short-term asbestos exposure raises the risk for peritoneal mesothelioma and pleural mesothelioma. Peritoneal mesothelioma occurs in the lining of the abdomen. Pleural mesothelioma tumors start on the lining around the lungs.  If asbestos fibers are inhaled or swallowed, they embed themselves in these linings. This…

Flaxseed Compound May Help Prevent Malignant Mesothelioma and Asbestosis
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Flaxseed Compound May Help Prevent Malignant Mesothelioma and Asbestosis

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence that a compound found in flaxseeds may help prevent malignant mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. The compound is an anti-inflammatory which appears to calm down the overactive immune system after asbestos exposure in mice. Inflammation has long been considered a key factor in the development of mesothelioma. Scientists are hopeful that preventing it may also prevent malignant mesothelioma. Inflammatory Response to Asbestos Exposure Asbestos is a group of naturally-occuring minerals that cause cancer in people and animals. When a person accidentally breathes in or swallows asbestos fibers, they trigger an inflammatory response that can last for years. White blood cells flock to the area and damaging free radicals are produced. Over time, some cells may become…

The Link Between Pleural Plaques and Mesothelioma
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The Link Between Pleural Plaques and Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Fibrous thickening of the lung lining known as pleural plaques are a good indicator of asbestos exposure but they don’t necessarily mean that a person will development mesothelioma. That is the finding of a risk analysis released by a Princeton, New Jersey-based consulting firm. The firm studied the medical literature on pleural plaques to better understand the relationship between this common asbestos exposure side effect and the development of mesothelioma, the most deadly disease associated with asbestos. Pleural plaques typically develop two or three decades after asbestos exposure. They can grow on either the outer (parietal) pleura or the inner (visceral) pleura. While they can make breathing uncomfortable as they calcify over time, pleural plaques are not cancerous and have…

How Much Asbestos Can Cause Mesothelioma?
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How Much Asbestos Can Cause Mesothelioma?

ByAlex Strauss

Avoid exposure to asbestos – especially if you are a smoker. That is the central message in an article by two Dutch cancer researchers who have some good news and some bad news about the link between asbestos exposure and malignant pleural mesothelioma. Pulmonologists Dr. Paul Baas and Dr. JA Burgers of AVL/NKI Cancer Center in Amsterdam analyzed a study of 58,279 Dutch construction workers from 1986 to 2007. The study, published by Offermans et al in the January 2014 issue of the Journal of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, confirmed what past research has found – that the risk of lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, and mesothelioma increased as asbestos exposure increased. “The risk of development of…

Can Mesothelioma Be Genetic?
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Can Mesothelioma Be Genetic?

ByAlex Strauss

A new study out of Italy suggests that a person is more likely to be diagnosed with mesothelioma if a sibling has the disease. That is especially true if both siblings were also exposed to asbestos. Scientists from Sapienza University and the Lazio Regional Health Service in Rome, as well as industrial disease experts from Viterbo, Italy searched a database including 10 percent of the Italian population to find familial clusters of mesothelioma cases. Among the 997 cases of mesothelioma recorded between 1980 and 2012, the team found 34 familial cases and 13 clusters. Together, these clusters accounted for 3.4% of all mesotheliomas in the database. “The most common clusters were those with affected siblings and unaffected parents,” reports Associate…

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland
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Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

ByAlex Strauss

A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…